Billiards refers to a family of games that are played on a billiard table using a plurality of balls and a cue. Eight-ball is one of the most common billiard games and is played using a single cue ball and fifteen object balls on a table having six pockets. Of the fifteen object balls there is a single black eight ball, seven solid-colored balls, and seven striped balls. To begin the game, the object balls are placed in triangular arrangement on one end of the table and the cue ball is placed on the opposing end (aka “the kitchen”). The game generally progresses with at least two players taking alternating turns using the cue to strike the cue ball against the object balls in an effort to pocket certain object balls. The game concludes when one player pockets all the commonly colored balls and the eight ball before another player pockets all the oppositely colored balls and the eight ball.
There are many other billiard games in addition to eight-ball including nine-ball, straight pool, and one-pocket. Although the rules may be different between them, the ability to use a cue to accurately and precisely strike a cue ball as desired is a common skill required in every billiard game. Accordingly, there have been many inventions conceived to help individuals develop this skill. For instance, there are a number of inventions directed towards improving aiming and sighting skills of a player including Roe (U.S. Pat. No. 4,120,494); Mazzoli (U.S. Pat. No. 5,520,581); Boatwright (U.S. Pat. No. 6,761,643); Evers (U.S. Pat. No. 7,118,486); Keating (U.S. Pat. No. 7,147,566); Reeves (U.S. Pat. Pub. 2003/0232658); Black (U.S. Pat. Pub. 2006/0166752); Keating (U.S. Pat. Pub. 2005/0101395); Kuo (U.S. Pat. Pub. 2004/0005932); Scoutten (U.S. Pat. No. 3,947,026); Nicholson (U.S. Pat. No. 3,993,305); Cianflone (U.S. Pat. Pub. 2005/0064946); and Simpson (U.S. Pat. No. 5,716,283). Further, there are inventions directed towards improving cue contact with a cue ball including Legacie (U.S. Pat. No. 6,267,686) and Schluter (U.S. Pat. No. 6,132,319). There are yet other inventions directed towards training a player to form a proper bridge for supporting the cue including Josenhans (U.S. Pat No. 4,053,153) and Davis (U.S. Pat. Pub. 2007/0079421).
Indeed, aiming, sighting, cue contact, and proper bridging are each important in billiards. However, proper cue stroke technique, including arm positioning, alignment, and motion, forms the foundation for each of the above and ultimately drives the ability to accurately and precisely use a cue to strike a cue ball as desired. Despite its importance, however, the art has thus far neglected assisting players to develop a proper cue stroke, thereby facilitating poor technique and making billiards more difficult than necessary to learn. Therefore, although desirable results have been achieved there exists much room for improvement. What is needed then are systems and methods for providing a billiards stroke training device.